Man, that’s a lofty title. That makes it sound like a definitive overview of the basic tenets of blogging….far from it, in my opinion. I was going to write this in an email to a certain guest blogger that has agreed to come on board for an unspecified period of time, but I decided to just post it out here in the open. I am a big blog evangelist, once the topic comes up in a conversation, it always leads me to the obvious question
‘When are you going to start blogging?’
I hear all kinds of excuses, such as no time, what would I say, who cares what I say, what if it sounds lame, I don’t know how to setup a blog…..on and on and on and on and on. So as I think back to how and when I started writing a blog, this is how it all began.
It was a dark and stormy night….
Ooops, sorry, it wasn’t quite that dramatic. Ok let me try that again, this is how it started. I started reading blogs about things that interested me. Reading them gave me a feel for how to write one. I didn’t start reading with the thought that I was going to write one, but over time it started making sense to start one. Blogs are a totally different animal, it’s not like reading a book, it’s not like watching a movie or a tv show, a blog is like a blog. (I guess you can’t define something by using the thing to define it.) That is why reading blogs helps you to understand the nature of blogs. How do you find these blogs to read? Good question. Many blogs list their blogrolls, which is a list of blogs that the writer reads on a regular basis. That can be almost a limitless supply of blogs to check out. On my right column, I have church tech blogs listed, then you can also click the link to see my Bloglines blogroll and I, like many others, have a wide variety of blogs that I check out regularly, some are church related, some are business related, some are technical/IT related, some are just people writing about their everyday life. Many blogs I read have blogrolls with many more good blogs on them. So if you are contemplating writing a blog, and not sure how to start or not sure if what you write will sound right, or even if you have already committed to step up to the plate, but still have reservations, go read. When you get ready to write, then write. Don’t write for anyone else, write for yourself. In other words, don’t write a certain way because you think that’s what someone wants to read, write what you know, write from the heart. People will read if they want to and not read if they don’t want to, it doesn’t matter. Do it for you, not for ‘them’, whoever ‘them’ is. The final word of advice I have, Laquita(oops, did I just say your name), is just do it! Just get out there and write what you know, people are eager to hear. There has already been a buzz created (to borrow from Tony, one of the better, more interesting bloggers out there, in my opinion!), people have already expressed interest in house church/smaller church topics. If any of you have read Laquita’s comments in the past week or week and a half on this blog, you have gotten some good insight. She writes comments just like she should be blogging. How did you start? Anyone else have tips for starting to write a blog?"